1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical control circuits for a lawn and garden tractor or similar vehicle having a controllable power-take-off (PTO) system, and more particularly relates to an override system for selectively allowing the PTO to operate when the vehicle is traveling in reverse.
2. Description of Related Art
Lawn tractors, mowing machines, and similar lawn and garden type vehicles such as utility vehicles, snow blowers, sweepers, and leaf blowers having PTO driven attachments are well known. Such machines typically include a magneto operated internal combustion (IC) engine for driving the machine and a controllable power-take-off (PTO) for transferring power to an attachment or implement, such as the cutting unit of a lawn and garden tractor. However, it is understood that electric and/or hybrid-type engines could also be used to power such machines.
Under certain conditions, it is desirable to operate the PTO while the vehicle is traveling in reverse. Various override systems have been proposed for this purpose, but many are inconvenient or difficult to operate. Providing an override system that is convenient, safe, reliable, and relatively simple to incorporate into existing engine control circuitry has been heretofore difficult to achieve.